balletmum20 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) Has any body ever done the royal ballets, be a junior for the day, what are peoples thoughts,? Thanks Edited October 30, 2012 by balletmum20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletgirlsplease Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 There are a few threads on this already. We took my youngest DD todo JA for a day in London in oct 2011. It was lovely an I would highly recommend it. She then auditioned for a year 4 place at Leeds but didn't get a place. We also auditioned my year 6 DD as an after thought bless her but she actually got a place and is at Leeds JA's currently. She is going to try for MAs at manchester but it is much harder to get onto. My youngest DD may audition for a year 5 place this year but to be honet the whole process of auditioning and being unsuccessful (and particularly her DS getting in!) has put her off so we may wait until she is going for a year 6 place or not at all! We are just on our way home from an intensive 2 day audition workshop for year 6 JAs that was in Covent Garden. My daughter has loved it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ja Sm Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 My dd has done a couple. She really enjoyed them and they are a lot of fun. I would also say that they are a positive experience whether you decide to audition or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZooZoo Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 These are lots of fun and provide a good insight of what it would be like to be a JA. My son auditioned for year 4 JA but did not get in. Then we did one of these days. He auditioned again for year 5 and got in! Eloise - what is the aim of the audition workshop? It is assumed that the JAs will all be auditioning for vocational? Are all your year 6s doing that? We probably will, as I feel a bit like we are on the treadmill now, but it is scary...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletmum20 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Thanks for all your replies. I heard there are not many year 4 places? Do you know why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancingmuppet Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) My dd did JA for the day in February and really enjoyed it, she then auditioned for Y6, was put on the short waiting list and a few weeks after that was offered a place. I think the reason that there aren't many Y4 places offered is that the children are so young they only accept the ones they think would be mature enough to cope with the classes, which are about 2 1/4 hours long, a long time for an 8 year old to concentrate. The Y6 workshop was great, my dd really enjoyed it. It was very audition oriented and I think it is assumed that most of the JAs will audition for either White lodge or MAs or both. Even if they don't audition they still get a lot out of the workshop. Edited October 30, 2012 by dancingmuppet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletgirlsplease Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I think most of the JAs will audition. They said at the workshop that 95% of WL year 7's will come from current JAs but with 150 JAs and 12 girls an 12 boy places that's small odds! My DD is going to audition for MAs at manchester but not WL. I wouldn't want her to go to boarding school and neither does she. There are very few MA places so she is realistic about auditioning but she loved the audition workshop and now knows a lot more about what to expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletgirlsplease Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 And Suzy, yes it is like being on a treadmill! We have stepped off before we get sucked in!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZooZoo Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Ahh - thanks for replying about the Year 6 audition workshop. I never really considered vocational schools as being possible but now that my son is a JA I see that there is perhaps a 20% chance or so on pure odds, so I have to consider it............ Regarding the Year 4/Year 5 JA thing, when we auditioned for year 4 the rejection letter specifically asked us to audition for year 5. As I understand it, there are 3 types of letter, yes, no, and try again next year...... But I have heard of children getting the straight no letter and still getting in the year after so I would not let that put anyone off trying........I think they only offered a couple of Year 4 places, but I can see that those children are very talented, so i guess that is why.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletgirlsplease Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 And a waiting list letter! My youngest got a no and she is not keen to try again. Had a frank talk with her tonight and she won't be swayed. But it does make life easier. She may change her mind when she's older...or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 I know what you mean EP about it being easier when they decide not to try again! I was disappointed when my dd didn't get MAs after being a JA and she then never wanted to try again. And despite finding out one of her old JA friends got in to MAs the following year, she's never regretted her decision. It kind of freed her up to pursue other things (she still dances at nearly 18 but is following an academic route). My sons both got waiting list letters for JAs, one got a place (and is now a professional ballet dancer) and the other didn't (and gave up ballet a couple of years later). Those decisions by the audition panel had a huge impact on my children's lives - didn't consider that at the time all those years ago! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balletgirlsplease Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Ahh it all seems to work out for the best. My eldest is going to try for MAs but is also very academic so either way i know it will be ok. I'm more gutted for my youngest who was so keen on ballet and is not so academic but hey, she'll find her way through. X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 There are a few threads on this already. It's just occurred to me that if you run a search for 'Be a JA for the day' it doesn't work because the search engine doesn't recognise words less than 4 characters long... Drives me crazy because you can't search for JA, MA, SA, RBS, RAD, etc etc, - so many abbreviations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 You might find this useful reading: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/83-rbs-ja-auditions/ and http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/160-rbs-ja-any-tips-for-a-novice-mum/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now